Estimation of tumor characteristics in a breast tissue with known skin surface temperature

•Presence of a tumor in tissue was investigated numerically.•Consideration was given to 1-D brain and breast tissues.•Pennes bioheat equation was solved.•Analysis was done using the finite volume method.•Inverse analysis was done using the direct search method.

Presence of a tumor and its characteristics like location, size and properties are estimated. Estimation is based on the measurement of the skin surface temperature of the breast. Consideration is given to a 2-D breast tissue infected with a tumor. Heat transfer in the breast tissue modeled using the Pennes bioheat equation is solved by the finite volume method. Skin surface temperature profile of the breast is characteristic of the tumor location, its size and grade. In the inverse analysis, the objective function is minimized using the genetic algorithm. Exact estimation is obtained if one parameter is estimated at a time. However, the accuracies are acceptable even when blood perfusion rate, location and size are estimated simultaneously.